As Labour take charge at Southampton City Council their new leader Cllr Richard Williams has announced an early change:

I want to empower all the portfolio holders to work in their area- I want it to be decentralised. That team could include more Cabinet members drawing the additional £11,000 allowance than the previous six Conservatives. There could be a different-sized Cabinet.

John Henvest of The Taxpayers Alliance objects that Cllr Williams has come out with a plan for higher bills.

He says:

With all the problems Southampton faces, it seems rather strange that one of Cllr Williams’ first announcements after becoming council leader was to propose more full-time politicians! This hardly comes top of the list for hard pressed council taxpayers in the city. To the best of my knowledge, none of the previous cabinet members went on the record saying they were so overworked they felt they needed additional colleagues in the cabinet to ease the load. If the previous administration coped with six cabinet members, why can’t the new one?